The Long and Winding Path to Online Business Success

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results. By that measure, trying unsuccessfully to launch an online business for 10 years certainly qualifies me as insane.

It’s intimidating bearing your soul like this - sharing how I have systematically failed at one thing, whilst being successful at another. All we see out there is the finished product, with beaming entrepreneurs telling us how they made millions of dollars seemingly overnight. The long and winding road is seldom documented. I want you to see that things take time and how much effort it takes to launch a business.

When I started my award-winning SharePoint business 15 years ago, I envisioned someday earning passive income from digital courses in a second business. But platform after platform, year after year, my goal remained out of reach.

Software evaluated, tutorials completed, websites built, blogs posted, products packaged - only to end up back at square one yet again.

The steep learning curves exhausted me. The lack of ecommerce solutions tailored to South Africa frustrated me out. My own lack of strategy sabotaged me.

At one stage, I decided to outsource it. The first quote I got to do that was a staggering R1million putting it firmly out mu grasp. Thankfully the technology has caught up and is a lot more affordable, so I tried to do it myself.

• Tested 25 learning, website and content management platforms.

• Got addicted to 10 social media platforms.

• Built 19 websites for myself or clients.

• Launched 5 other businesses apart from Lets Collaborate.

• Written over 600 SharePoint blogs with over 993 000 views.

• Evaluated 27 Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.

• Spent tens of thousands of Rands.

I learnt about content creation, writing and publishing books, brand building, website best practices, social media marketing, email journeys, prompt engineering, automation agencies, no code development, SEO, video editing, thumbnails, ecommerce engines, payment gateways, merchant accounts, dropshipping, affiliate marketing, white labelling, product labelling, courier services, writing.

The only digital product I have launched so far is my first book that I published to Amazon. My first royalty pay out was 38 cents. Now it’s $1,48. However shall I invest it, haha.

My second book I ended up giving away for free. Cost me a fortune to print, but I had to hold it in my hands.

How is it I can run an award-winning business for 15 years, but have failed at getting an online business?

It certainly was not for lack of effort in my decade of determination. Here is what I came up with.

1) No clear strategy or planning

I did not have a very clear strategy. I only really had an idea or thought - "get my business online". I did not put enough energy into the overall strategy and execution planning.

2) Didn’t pay attention to the back-end

I started from the front instead of the back. I should have known better in this space. This is something I am fanatical about in the SharePoint world. I drill into my clients the importance of getting the architecture right, with understanding what you are trying to achieve or manage. I did not do that in my online business attempts.

The backend is a problem in South Africa because the big players in the software world in this space do not have payment gateways that work in South Africa. This is a total roadblock. If you want recurring payments in multiple currencies, you are very limited in what platforms and gateways you can use, it's pretty much WordPress or nothing. Stripe is out.

3) Lack of focus

I suffered from shiny new toy syndrome. There are a mind-numbing number of tools available for online businesses. They offer incredible functionality that is hard to resist. Instead of just choosing one and sticking to it, right or wrong, I keep choosing new ones, having to learn them from scratch every time. FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is a real thing and the clever software companies market their products accordingly.

4) I did not understand the game

The online world is vastly different from the consulting game I am currently in. Just putting your stuff online will not equate to a successful online business. You need to do loads of marketing and sales over many years to get it out there. It is an ecosystem that has dependencies. Ignore or skip one and the system breaks down. You need a proper plan to be successful at this game.

5) I did not get organised

I did not organize my content in a way that would set me up for success. I have been approaching the online world with the rules that work in the in-person specialist consulting and training world – user manuals and standing in front of people. It does not work. I have mountains of content I can share, but it is not going to be a user manual. Now it’s newsletters, memes, hashtags, websites, videos, checklists, shorts, podcasts - and all this needs to be designed and scheduled.

6) No consistency

I was not consistent. I burned hot for a month or two, did too much too soon, which lead to burnout. I tried to manage too many platforms and juggle too many projects. There are so many ‘gurus’ that say you need to be on every single social media platform and post 10 to 15 times a day. That is just not sustainable in any form. You will be behind a screen for the rest of your life.

7) Not a daily habit

I did not define a manageable routine I could stick to on a daily basis, for the long-haul. As you live your day, so you live your life. If it does not become part of my daily routine, it is just not going to happen. I have a more manageable plan now.

Read my newsletter next week to see what the 8th but most important problem was.